Opposition MPs have raised the spectre of mass contamination from test sites at an inquiry into industrial hemp trials, but the Greens say it is fearmongering and any outbreak could in fact doom outdoor cannabis cultivators.
Hemp is in the fields under probation but opposition MPs claim a lack of control on trials means it is just a matter of time before hemp plants sweep New Zealand.
Nineteen hectares of industrial hemp was grown under regulated conditions. Tree crops were found to contain the psychoactive drug Tetarhyrdocannibinol (THC) above the maximum allowable limit and were destroyed by the police as required under the conditions of the growers licences.
The Ministry of Agriculture says wild kiwifruit is growing in New Zealand bush so there has to be some potential for bird droppings to carry the hemp seed.
National MP Phil Heatley says police will struggle to distinguish between legitimate hemp crops and illegitimate cannabis crops - stretching their resources.
And Act MP Gerry Eckhoff expressed concern that the open air trial was allowed to go ahead without an environmental impact report being carried out.
"Potentially it's going to be far worse than any GM seed release," Eckhoff says.
Hemp is a defining issue for the Greens and MP Nandor Tanczos said the criticism is "just more reefer madness".
The Greens put hemp in their walls for insulation and Tanczos said the reality is the committee heard very clearly that there is a very distinct difference between hemp and marijuana.
"If Phil Heatley can't tell the difference between a pair of jeans and a joint you have got to ask what he is doing in parliament anyway," says Tanczos.
He says cannabis has been growing wild in New Zealand for 100 years.
The committee was told crossing hemp with cannabis reduces the level of THC - making the cannabis less potent.
